Microsoft vs Lindows

From: blstuart_at_bellsouth.net <(blstuart_at_bellsouth.net)>
Date: Thu Aug 15 18:46:00 2002

I've done a little digging in my spotty library. (It's so
nice to finally have enough shelves for all the books.)
And I've come across a few additional references thay may
be of some help. The first references come from a set
of inter-office memoranda from Xerox dated in 1978 and
included phrases such as "window-based display," "window-
oriented display," "windows with standard behavior" and
"non-preemptive window behavior." These memoranda are
discussions about a programming environment and mention
that both Smalltalk and Mesa already had window-based
environemnts at the time.

The next reference comes from Interface Age magazine, July
1981. In the article "The Video Display Revolution," Table 2
lists features of various terminals. One feature listed for
the HDS Concept 100 terminal is Windowing.

The last reference I came across prior to 1983 is in the
August 1980 issue of Byte. In an ad for Software Development
and Training, Inc., a text editor is described as having
"FULL SCREEN window displays..."

Not all of the references described windows as we currently
think of them, but they do illustrate that the term was
in general us in the field of computer user interfaces
well before Microsoft trademarked it.

Brian L. Stuart
Received on Thu Aug 15 2002 - 18:46:00 BST